Archive for the ‘person with autism’ Category

People with autism like routines and things to remain the same. They prefer structure and dislike any changes to their daily routine.

Hygiene is a social skill that a normally developing person will learn as they grow from their environment, peers and family. However with autism the skill is not learnt naturally.

People with autism do not care what others think of them, or understand little jibes like “phew what’s that smell”.

They lack the ability to “mind read” they do not understand facial expressions and lack the ability to read a persons body language. Social skills like hygiene need to be taught directly.

Healthy hygiene habits in autism can be taught and re-enforced using visual prompts.

People with autism are visual learners and respond better to visual cues rather than the written or spoken word.

They have trouble understanding our world and can become anxious and sometimes aggressive when they fail to understand what is expected of them.

For example Healthy hygiene habits in autism, we understand the need to brush our teeth, take regular dental check up’s, shower, wash our hands and how to use the toilet appropriately

…All natural hygiene habits we learn through experience and watching, to an autistic person these naturally required skills need to be learned.

That’s where autism social skills stories help; they give the autistic individual instruction, cues and answers to what, where why and when, helping to teach the autistic individual the importance of healthy hygiene habits.

For example during the teenage years the autistic individual will begin to go through puberty, they will sweat and need to take care of their personal hygiene. A social skills story can explain why they are going through puberty the changes they can expect and how they will be expected to act and react to situations and circumstances that are in some cases out of their individual control.

They may not understand the need for a regular dental check up’s; all habits we naturally acquire and accept, however to an autistic person sometimes these things are confusing and in some cases will cause actual pain and anxiety.

Autistic individuals are sensitive to light, sound, touch and smell, which in some cases can make healthy hygiene habits difficult to master.

Again autism social skills stories can help them to overcome their fears and anxieties by giving them pictorial support and cues, showing what is happening and why. Then giving the autistic individual coping strategies and instruction on how to perform the task or deal with the activity or situation.

Like for example brushing their teeth, why we do this, what the outcome of not brushing your teeth could be, as well as how to brush their teeth…resulting in good oral hygiene and less cavities.

To help autistic individuals gain healthy hygiene habits and gain Healthy hygiene habits in autism use autism social skills stories.

Download autism social skills stories for Healthy hygiene habits in autism like good hygiene habits and other social skills stories from

Unlike typically developing children a child on the spectrum WILL NOT naturally develop self-care skills, and WILL NEED direct teaching.

Typically individuals with autism ARE visual thinkers and learners, which means that they think in pictures and WILL respond better to teaching materials and strategies which ARE VISUAL.

Using visual support to teach hygiene in autism is essential in most instances, typically developing youngsters will people watch and pick up on self-care skills, but children with autism DO NOT people watch and in most instances WILL NOT naturally learn self-care skills. A good social skills story can HELP the child on the spectrum learn essential hygiene skills.

For most individuals with autism hygiene can be confusing and in some cases even a painful experience! This is due to social skills deficits and sensory processing difficulties.

Social skills deficits ARE present in ALL individuals with autism, but to varying degrees dependant on where the individual is on the autism spectrum scale.

Using visual support to teach hygiene in autism is beneficial. Visual supports such as “social skills stories” ARE USED to HELP children with autism understand and deal with situations or skills that they find difficult or confusing like: puberty, washing their teeth, visiting a dentist and so on.

The social skills story answers the “wh” questions who, where, why, when and what as well as “HOW” and gives the young person with autism an insight into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others, which is an area of marked weakness in those on the spectrum.

Social skills stories will normally be written in first person text and is always written from the point of view of the young person with autism.

No two people on the spectrum are ever going to be the same and we all use different terminology, therefore the social skills story needs to be editable and easy to tweak.

To learn more about social stories for hygiene in autism and to see an example of social stories for hygiene in autism visit:

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a neurological developmental disorder affecting an individual’s brain; having autism does not indicate a form of mental retardation.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is an umbrella term used to represent or denote a wide variety of spectrum disorders such as: PDD Nos, Autistic Disorder, low functioning Autism, Asperger Syndrome, also Atypical Autism (a type of Pervasive Developmental Disorder, not otherwise specified).There are differences between these spectrum disorders, but on the whole they are quite similar.

Autism “Spectrum” Disorder what is it?

The word “spectrum” is used because, while all people with autism share three main areas of difficulty, their condition will affect them in very different ways. Some are able to live relatively “normal” lives; while others on the lower end of the “spectrum” will probably have other disabilities such as epilepsy, some will also have educational difficulties and most will require a lifetime of specialist support.

There are three main areas of difficulty which all people withautism spectrum disorder share these are referred to as the “triad of impairments”.

The triad of impairments are:

Difficulties with communication

Difficulties with social interaction

Difficulties with imagination

While all people with autism spectrum disorder share the triad of impairments, some autistic people may be affected more by one autism symptom, while others may be affected more strongly by a different autism symptom.

People with autism may experience some form of sensory sensitivity, which is referred to as sensory processing issues.

People with autism spectrum disorder and sensory sensitivity…

The majority of autistic people will also have sensory processing issues, these difficulties can occur in one or more of the five senses – sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. A person’s senses are either intensified (hypersensitive) or under-sensitive (hypo-sensitive).

For example: a person with autism may find certain background sounds, like the hum of a fridge for example unbearably loud or distracting, while the rest of us can ignore or block out the noise. To an autistic person the noise can cause anxiety or even physical pain, this can be referred to as an autisticanxiety trigger.

People with autism spectrum disorder that are hypo-sensitive will often not feel pain or extremes of temperature. Some may rock, spin or flap their hands to stimulate sensation, this is called autistic stimming. An autistic person will use autistic stimming to help with difficulties like balance and posture or to deal with anxiety, confusion even stress, another autistic anxiety trigger.

People with autism spectrum disorder and sensory sensitivity may also find it harder to use their body awareness system. Which tells us where our bodies are, so for those with reduced body awareness, it can be harder to navigate rooms without walking into objects or bumping into others. They will not appreciate what is an appropriate distance from other people which can cause issues with respecting personal space.

This can cause social problems, as the person with autism will be unaware of the need for personal space and may stand very close, making people feel very uncomfortable.

Social stories for autism can help an autistic child understand what personal space is and why it is important to allow others to have personal space.

An autistic child may also have problems with “fine motor” tasks such as tying shoelaces, and fastening buttons etc.

Sometime autistic people may have learning disabilities, which can affect all aspects of their life, from going to school, to learning how to wash themselves, clean their teeth, Or how to feed themselves.

Again social stories can help reduce the confusion and stress felt by an autistic child when trying to master “everyday” life skills the rest of us take for granted.

The symptoms of autism will vary from person to person each autistic person will have a different degree of learning disability.

Some autistic people will be able to live fairly independently, but may need some support.

While others may require lifelong, specialist support. However, all people with autism can, and do, learn and develop with the right sort of autistic support tools and autism resources.

One such form of autism resources is something called autism social stories.

These are short pieces of text with appropriate pictures-giving your autistic child, teen or adult specific social cues for everyday living skills.

Like how to wash their teeth, visiting the doctor, eating out. Social skills stories for autistic children and teens, or adults can be printed and used as instructions for all of life’s “normal” and “not so normal” life experiences and actions.

For many children with autism social stories act as a “role model” showing in simple easy to understand chunks how and why.

They are visual plans and can be drawn upon for many situations, skills, circumstances and behaviors like: transitions, changes to routines, learning new skills, re-enforcing already learnt skills and promoting positive behaviors.

An autism social skills stories answer the ever important “wh” questions – who, where, why, when and what as well as “HOW” and offer children with autism an insight into the thoughts, feelings and emotions of others.

Helping the autistic person feel better in, and cope with, situations they may struggle to understand or deal with – by giving them clear visual and accurate information about those situations.

Autism social skills stories are excellent for of autistic support tools, they can be edited to personalize and printed for convenience. These autism resources can become a valuable part of an autistic person’s life.

To obtain these valuable autism resources visit any of the followingsites and get downloads of autism social stories:

However for a person with autism spectrum disorder even the simplest of hygiene tasks such as tooth brushing can cause anxiety and distress. For a person with autism spectrum disorder social skills deficits and sensory processing issues are common.

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Generally people with autism have sensory processing issues; are either hyper or hypo sensitive to stimuli â€“ sight, sound, touch, taste or smell. Making a task such as tooth brushing problematic; the cold water, taste of the tooth paste even the nylon bristle of the tooth brush can be distressing.

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Also a lack of social skills deficits affects how the autistic individual processes information, thinks, acts and reacts to sensory stimuli and those around them. So for example looking a hygiene and autism, it is not uncommon for an autistic individual to simply not understand the need for hygiene and self care.

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Generally people with autism live in a â€˜literal worldâ€™ meaning they fail to see the social rules or etiquette, they will speak literally and really not care much what others may be thinking or feeling, this is not arrogance merely a symptom of autism.

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Generally, people with autism spectrum disorder lack social and communication skills and need direct teaching. Most autistic people are visual thinkers and learners meaning they think in pictures.

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Therefore visual strategies like social stories work very well for teaching and encouraging social skills the person with ASD is struggling to master or understand.

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Consequently, using a social story on hygiene and Autism is beneficial. The social story will help the person with ASD understand the basic need for hygiene and how this is accomplished.

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Social skills stories answer the â€œwhâ€ questions â€“ who, where, why, when and what as well as give an insight into the thoughts, feelings and reactions of others, helping to reduce stress and anxieties.

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A social story on hygiene and Autism can tackle teaching the need for hygiene skills such as tooth brushing, getting a haircut, visiting the dentist, showering, puberty and so on.

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Using visual strategies has been shown to work; social stories use first person text and visual images much like a comic strip, as a visual plan or framework of the skill or behavior being tackled, in a manner the ASD individual will understand.

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Social stories for autism should be editable, printable and easy to implement, need no formal training to use and easy to personalize for each ASD individual.

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A social story on hygiene and Autism will help explain visually the need for hygiene, why and how.

Social skills stories are used to teach people with autism vital social skills. Social stories for autism are a description of an everyday situation, circumstance or event, written from the autistic person’s point of view.

Therefore social stories for autism can be used in different ways for example; if there is a change to routine in the near future or a special event happening, or maybe there is a social skill that needs mastering.

Using autism social skills stories allows the person with autismto practice the social skill, so that when the situation or event actually happens they are prepared and when they encounter the situation or event they will be able to cope better.

The social stories for autism will help guide and control behaviors; helping the person with autism to manage and control the situation or event.

Social skills stories follow a set formula of sentences:

Descriptive

Perspective

Direction

Control

By implementing autism social skills stories you can help your autistic child find coping mechanisms for all the situations they are finding it hard to comprehend and cope with; like bed time, friendships, personal hygiene and school related issues.

A well written social skills story is written in the first person and will give key focus to the main points. All the above sentences will be used and it will also include image or pictures appropriate to the skill being taught or re-enforced.